We’ve been having a lot of fun creating food-inspired soap lately. For this recipe, we used a technique similar to the Horse Sculpted Layers tutorial. Thick soap is scooped out of the mold in a particular shape, and the negative space is filled with more soap. Because this carrot shape is not particularly complicated, it’s a great project if you’d like to try the sculpted layer technique for the first time.

If you give this soap a try, pay close attention to the lye instructions. First, a main batch of lye and oil are created. Once the lye cools, 25% of the batch is split into separate containers. The two batches are used to create the brown soap and the orange carrot soap.

The reason for making two separate batches is the brown soap needs to harden for quite some time. The carrot soap needs to be poured while it’s still fluid. Creating two separate batches allows you to control the consistency of both, and not stress about the orange soap becoming too thick. Once the base is completed, another batch of soap is made to create the piped top. This project does have a few steps, but we think the end result is totally worth it.

If you’re looking for a simple way to incorporate turmeric into your beauty routine, look no further. This DIY Turmeric Melt & Pour Soap is great for beginners, and advanced crafters can appreciate the quality ingredients. Made with Goat Milk Melt and Pour Soap Base, each bar contains real liquid goat milk to produce a gentle and creamy lather.

Essential oil soap is a great way to incorporate natural ingredients into your beauty routine. From energizing orange and zesty lemongrass essential oil, there are plenty of options to choose from. The Natural Soap Kit for Beginners contains the ingredients to make essential oil soap. It comes in three versions depending on what color and essential oil you’d like. The kit ships free to the lower 48 United States. There are also Refill Kits if you’d like to try a different variation or make more of your favorite.

“Mechanic soap” usually refers to extra scrubby bars. The exfoliants help remove grease and oil from working hands. For these bars, I added 5 tablespoons of pumice and 8 tablespoons of walnut shells for plenty of exfoliation. Both pumice and walnut shells are effective yet fine grained, so they are not overly scratchy. These bars are be suitable for the body, but I wouldn’t recommend them for gentle facial skin. They are great for rough spots like elbows, knees and heels.

I kept these bars no-fuss with no colorants or fancy design. Sometimes, simple is best. The walnut shells give a natural warm hue. When the orange 10X essential oil is added, it turns the batter a rich orange, but I found it faded as the soap hardened. The pumice does not affect the color greatly, but it does cause the soap batter to accelerate. Prior to adding the pumice at trace, I recommend dispersing it in oil to help get rid of clumps.

I used my melted and mixed soaping oils to disperse the pumice, rather than adding extra oil to the recipe. This is a personal preference. Normally, I use extra lightweight oil to disperse my colorants and consider the dispersion oils a little extra superfat. For this recipe I did not want to add 5 whole tablespoons of extra oil because I wanted these bars to be nice and cleansing (and remember, any extra oils = weigh down lather and make rinse-off not as easy and fast). This recipe is already formulated with a 5% superfat, and contains a 12% water discount to help these bars cure faster. Read more about water discounting soap here.

Being Nordic, one of my favorite Christmas treats are pepparkakor, a traditionally Swedish ginger cookie. They are made with a combination of spices and orange zest, and are traditionally served on St. Lucia Day. You might be familiar with Anna’s Thins found in grocery stores and IKEA…those are pepparkakor cookies. =) I was inspired by the flavors of this delicious cookie to create this Cleansing Orange Spice Salt Scrub. It’s super easy to make and smells just beyond yummy.

The base of this scrub is made from fine grained Dead Sea salt, Stephenson Liquid Soap Concentrate Base and a little bit of olive oil. The liquid soap base gives the scrub a nice thick texture and lathers slightly when applied to the skin. It’s definitely a more exfoliating scrub, so I would recommend it for your hands, feet and legs. If you prefer gentler exfoliation, simply swap the Dead Sea salt for granulated sugar or a finer grained exfoliant. Read more about exfoliant options here. In addition to orange peel and Racing Stripe Orange Mica, I added a bit of ground cinnamon to the scrub for appearance. Because cinnamon can be a skin irritant, you may want to omit it if you have very sensitive skin or are allergic to cinnamon.

As a bonus, you can save $10 off any Stephenson purchase of $20 or more with the coupon code: SAVETEN. Browse through Stephenson products here.

Today is the second tutorial in the Back to Basics Cold Process Series. Now that we have made a basic recipe with coconut oil, palm oil and olive oil, we are adding cocoa butter into the mix! The addition of cocoa butter adds to the firmness of the bar. It also causes the soap batter to reach a thick trace more quickly. In addition, 10X Orange Essential Oil is added to give this soap a beautiful, natural orange color. The Back to Basics Soapmaking Kit includes all the soaping ingredients you need to create all four recipes in this series, including the 10″ Silicone Mold. Now, let’s get soaping!

One of the most best parts of soap making is trying out different oils and butters. It’s interesting to see how various oils and butters affect trace and the final product. There are so many soaping oils, it can take a few batches to find “the perfect bar” for you. Everybody likes different soap properties (cleansing, moisturizing, exfoliating, etc), so it’s fun to experiment! This recipe is comprised of coconut oil, palm oil, olive oil and cocoa butter. To learn more about properties of common soap making oils, check out this blog post.

The coconut oil, palm oil and cocoa butter contribute to the firmness of the bar. A large percentage of olive oil is used to give the bar softness. In addition to firmness, coconut oil also gives the bar a lush lather and cleansing properties. Cocoa butter is used at 10% for firmness and for its skin loving properties. Cocoa butter is a stable fat and also contains natural antioxidants, making it a popular choice for cold process recipes. Read more about it in this Sunday Night Spotlight.

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